Rural mailbox flexible support

ABSTRACT

A rural mailbox used for temporarily mails storage having a flexible support system or a flexi-modular that absorbs and reduces lateral impact through its spring system/mechanism by allowing the support arm to deflect and soften the magnitude of shock impact. The flexible support system or flexi-modular is a horizontal member of the mailbox post and can be utilized or mounted on any traditional mailbox vertical member or post that made of woods or hard plastics. The flexible support system or flexi-modular includes a base, a leaf spring, a horizontal support member and a pivot bolt assembly. The base is a main interface to the vertical post, as well as other sub-components of the flexi-modular. It is integrated with two extended lugs that hold the horizontal member through the pivot bolt and allow it to swing in plane to the left or right of the mailbox. The leaf or coil spring is attached to the base by fasteners, and its duty is to reposition the horizontal member after every impact, also acts like a load damper, which minimizes or absorbs impact and help to prolong the mailbox and its post support through many more winters. More importantly, the flexi-modular maintains a classy and traditional appearance of the rural mailbox assembly.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, a conventional rural mailbox assembly has a vertical postand a horizontal member that support the mailbox in a fixed position. Oran integrated plastic molded mailbox that has an integral post andmailbox as one entity. The mailbox is bolted to the horizontal supportmember by fasteners.

However, a conventional rural mailbox post is fairly disadvantagebecause it is fixed relatively to the ground; therefore, the mailbox andthe support post are often being damaged by the snow plow-trucks duringthe snow cleaning operation; however, this generally happens in thewinter time and snowy region.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,150 to R. J. Herschel discloses a self-rightingmailbox support having a tubular vertical element with an incorporatedcoil spring assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,783 to A. Alvarez discloses aflexible mailbox stand comprised of two sections joined by a springassembly. U.S. Pat. No. 7,032,811 to K. Paulic and D. Atrkhmovichdisclose a rotatable mailbox with flexible support that has a rodassembly and a support plate positioned on the ground, between the rodand the plate is a coil spring that supports the rod assembly and themailbox. U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,088 to R. Bonnell discloses a mailboxsupported by a ground engaging post having a spring stem for absorbingshock such as impact from a vehicle.

While these inventions may be suitable for the particular purposeemployed, or general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposesof the present invention as disclosed hereafter.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an effective and durabilityenhancement support system for the mailbox, which is flexible andabsorbs horizontal forces/impacts that a plow-truck generates during itssnow cleaning operation. During plowing, the truck creates a continuousflow of snow powders, which mass and velocity form a momentum force thatpushes against the mailbox and its support post several times for eachwinter. The flexible support system will help to protect the post aswell as the mailbox to be damaged by the said forces described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A flexible mailbox support system or flexi-modular of the presentinvention is to provide durability enhancement or improvement to theconventional mailbox that is not capable to absorb impact that maydamage the mailbox as well as its support post.

The present invention is about durability improvement or enhancement,and more particularly to a stand alone rural mailbox support system inthe snowy region that is fixed relative to the ground, where is highprobability of mailbox and its support system being damaged by plowingtrucks during snow plowing operation.

The primary aspect of this present invention is to provide a flexiblesupport system or flexi-modular for a rural mailbox assembly thatcomprises several components that can be produced in details andmanually assembled together (see figures for details). The flexiblesupport system or flexi-modular has three major components; a mountingbase, a horizontal support member and a leaf or coil spring and severalfasteners. The objective of this present invention also includes aphilosophy of retaining the mailbox support appearance classy as atraditional.

A fully assembled and installed flexible mailbox support system orflexi-modular comprises a base, which is a main interface to thevertical post, as well as other sub-components of the flexi-modular. Aleaf or coil spring is attached to the base by fastener, where thespring works like a shock absorber or a load damper; more importantly,it returns the horizontal support member to a center position every timeafter impact. The base has two integral extended mounting lugs that holdthe horizontal member through its mounting holes and retained by a pivotbolt assembly. The horizontal support member has a singledegree-of-freedom (DOF) mount system, which is only allowed to swinglaterally in plane to the left or right of the mailbox. The flexiblemailbox support system or flexi-modular can be mounted to a solid woodor an extruded plastic post

A preferable bill-of-material (BoM) for the flexi-modular consists of abase 01, which can be made from a durable plastic molded process orhogged-out from a plastic or corrosion resistant steel block; ahorizontal support member 02, can be made from an extruded hollowdurable plastic post (or fence post); and the spring 03, can be madefrom a corrosion resistant spring material. Lastly, the pivot boltassembly 04 and other fasteners are preferably made from corrosionresistant and can be purchased off-the-shelve from local hardwarestores.

The various features and advantages of this invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can bebriefly described as follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a general perspective of a rural mailbox assemblywith a flexi-modular support and the vertical post. As shown in figureis a complete assembly of the mailbox and support post in an isometricview.

FIG. 2 illustrates a general perspective of a flexi-modular assembly. Asshown in figure is an isometric view of a flexible support system orflexi-modular assembly.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded view of FIG. 2 or an exploded view of aflexi-modular assembly.

FIG. 4 illustrates a FRONT and TOP views of the mailbox and its supportpost assembly. The TOP view shows a broken-section-view of B-B. FIG. 4also includes VIEW A, which is a detailed as well as larger scaled viewof section view B-B.

FIG. 5 illustrates a FRONT and TOP views of the mailbox and its supportpost assembly. The FRONT view shows a broken-section-view of A-A. FIG. 5also includes VIEW B, which is a detailed as well as larger scaled viewof section view A-A.

FIG. 6 illustrates a TOP view of the mailbox and its support postassembly. The figure shows section B-B and the flexi-modular is in adefault position.

FIG. 7 illustrates a TOP view of the mailbox and its support postassembly. The figure shows section B-B and the flexi-modular is in aninstant-deflected position.

FIG. 8 illustrates a general perspective of a flexi-modular assemblywith long mounting bolt type of fasteners and doublers that work withhollow plastic vertical post.

FIG. 9 illustrates a general perspective of a flexi-modular assemblywith short mounting screw type of fasteners that work with solid woodvertical post.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The representative embodiment of the present invention will be describedreferencing to FIG. 1 thru FIG. 9. The mailbox flexible support systemor flexi-modular assembly as shown are in accordance with the inventionaccording to FIG. 1 thru 9, comprises of a base 01 that made of plasticmolded component, a horizontal support member 02 that made of extrudedplastic post, a leaf or coil spring 03 that made from a standard orcorrosion resistant spring materials, four standard corrosion resistantbolt assemblies 4(a, b, c) and two standard corrosion resistantfasteners 05 that fasten the spring 03 to the base 01. The saidfasteners can be purchased from off-the-shelf from local hardwarestores.

The base 01, referenced to FIG. 3, has a flat surface that interfaceswith the vertical post. It is also a main component that holds thehorizontal support member 02 and the damper spring 03. The base 01 canbe produced by casting/molding using durable plastic material orhogged-out from a block of corrosion resistant materials such StainlessSteel or Plastic.

The horizontal support member 02, referenced to FIG. 3, has doublechamfers at the attached end, and these are needed for physicaloperational clearances. There is also a mounting hole that drilled thrusurfaces, top and bottom at the same end. The horizontal support member02, is constrained in the flexi-modular assembly by a long pivot bolt 4a. It can be simply produced by using extruded plastic fence post, cutto size then complete machining of features. It can also be produced byother method such plastic molding to avoid machining cost.

The spring or shock absorber 03, referenced to FIG. 3, that can be madeof standard ferrous or non-ferrous spring materials in either form, leafor coil spring. The spring is mainly designed to absorb horizontalforces/impacts and reposition the mailbox to the default position afterimpact.

1. A flexible rural mailbox support system or flexi-modular assemblythat is capable to absorb lateral/side impact and prolong service lifefor the mailbox and its support post, comprising: a. A base 01 of theflexi-modular depicted in an exploded view of FIG. 3 that has a flatmounting surface, several mounting holes and integral lugs which arenormal to the mounting surface. The lugs also have mounting thru holesthat are co-axis with the lug outer radius. b. A horizontal supportmember 02 of the flexi-modular depicted in an exploded view of FIG. 3,is hollow and has double chamfers at mounted end and a mounting pilothole thru surfaces. c. A load absorber spring 03 of the flexi-modulardepicted in an exploded view of FIG. 3, is a leaf spring style that hasa flat surface and two mounting holes at center where the flat surfaceinterfaces with the base
 01. Both ends of the spring 03 have a curvaturesurface that designed for smooth rubbing contact with the inner surfacesof the horizontal support member
 02. The spring 03 can be made fromstandard spring materials such ferrous or non-ferrous materials as wellas high flexural strength plastics. d. A pivot bolt of the flexi-modularassembly depicted in FIG. 3 has two washers, 4 b and a nut, 4 c. Thebolt 4 a has a longer shank where it interfaces with the base 01 and thehorizontal support member
 02. The bolt assembly 4 a, 4 b & 4 c can bemade of metal or plastic materials. However, this pivot bolt is asubstitutable component. It can be used by other long bolts such acutter-pin style. e. Two counter-sunk fasteners that hold the spring 03to the base
 01. 2. The rural mailbox flexible support system orflexi-modular assembly as recited in claim 1, wherein said flexi-modularassembly having a shock absorber spring that is flexible and absorbslateral forces/impacts that a plow-truck generates during its snowcleaning operation.